Global shark populations are facing a serious threat from the brutal practice of shark finning.  Shark finning involves catching sharks and cutting off their fins, then throwing the bodies back into the ocean.  In many cases the sharks are still alive when thrown back.  They subsequently endure a painful death from drowning (as they can no longer swim) or predation. 

Shark meat in general commands a low market price.  The fins, however, can be sold for exorbitant amounts of money for use in the traditional Asian delicacy, shark fin soup.  This soup, once reserved for the elite, is now valued by Asian peoples around the world as a symbol of wealth and power.  It is in increasingly high demand as a luxury item to serve at weddings and other celebratory banquets.  Since only the dried fins are of value to fishermen, they discard the rest of the shark to save room for more fins or other, more valuable fish.  Recent estimates approximate that tens of millions of sharks are finned, and killed, every year. 

This practice presents a danger to the sustainability of shark populations.  Shark species are much slower to mature than other fish (many species not reaching maturity until aged seven to eight years).  They also have long gestation times, some lasting a year or longer, and very small litters of pups.  These facts combine to render the likelihood of serious population decimation through finning a definite possibility.  If, for instance, a boat were to fin a school of females, many of them in some stage of pregnancy, two generations of sharks could be wiped out in one day of fishing.   Over 100 species of sharks are now listed as threatened or endangered by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), and studies have estimated that populations of some species have declined in recent years by up to 95%. 

 

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HISTORY & CAMPAIGN STATUS

1991

2,289 sharks (3% for fins) killed by Hawaii-based swordfish and tuna longline fisheries.

1998

60,857 (60%) sharks killed by Hawaii-based swordfish and tuna longline fisheries.

1993

The practice of finning prohibited in federal waters of the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.

2000

U.S. Shark Finning Prohibition Act of 2000 bans the taking or possession of shark fins without the attached carcass; however a loophole allows shark fins to be landed in a specified ratio to the actual carcasses [and not attached]. The loophole makes it difficult to match fins to the carcass and does little to prohibit the taking of fins from protected shark species.

2002

U.S. Shark Finning Prohibition Act is enforced in the Pacific.  Loophole still exists.

2008

May - Pacific Whale Foundation screens "Sharkwater" during DIVE IN Movies; deeply moved staff pushed for greater involvementand and Pacific Whale Foundation launches a formal Action Alert and anti-finning campaign.

July - Senator Kerry introduces the U.S. Shark Conservation Act of 2008.  The Act passes House vote; however, is cleared from the books at the end of the 110th Congressional Session.

2009

April - U.S. Shark Conservation Act of 2009 (H.R.81/S.850) is reintroduced and passes House, referred to Senate Committee.

2009

July - Pacific Whale Foundation send letters and copies of petitions to each U.S. Senator.

June - Hawaii Senator Inoyue responds neutrally.

August - New York Senator Gillibrand responds in support.

November - U.S. Shark Conservation Act of 2009 (S.850) passes Senate Committee favorably.

2010

January- Hawaii State Legislature introduces SB2169 that prohibits the possession, sale, and distribution of shark fins in the State.

February - Pacific Whale Foundation Conservation Director, Brooke Porter offered testimony in support of SB2169.

February - U.S. Shark  Conservation Act of 2009 placed on Senate Legislative Calendars 270.

March 2 - SB2169 passes third reading in the Senate.

March 3 - SB2169 passes first reading in the House.

March 5 - Pacific Whale Foundation sends follow-up letter to Hawaii Senator Inouye requesting a co-sponsorship of S.850.

March 8 - Pacific Whale Foundation sends follow-up letter to Hawaii Senator Akaka requesting a co-sponsorship of S.850.

March 15 - SB2169 The Senate Water, Land & Ocean Committee recommends the measure be deffered. 

April 21 - The Conference Committee recommends that measure SB2169 be passed with ammendments. To read the version of the bill passed by the committee, click here.

Great news! Hawaii's anti-shark finning bill passed and was signed into law by Governor Linda Lingle. This is the first law in the nation to prohibit the sale or distribution of shark fins.

 

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PACIFIC WHALE FOUNDATION RESEARCH & EDUCATION

Pacific Whale Foundation, Ecuador

Pacific Whale Foundation has been conducting research offshore from the coastal community of Puerto Lopez, Ecuador under the lead of Dr. Cristina Castro since 2002.  Her past work has focused primarily on humpback whales; however, more recently Dr. Castro has begun to explore the detrimental effects of bycatch on the local marine ecosystems. Over the past two seasons, Castro notes that rays followed by sharks account for the highest percentage of bycatch in the artisanal fishing community. 

 

Percentage of Species Caught Incidentally (Porcentaje de Especies Capturadas Incidentalmente)
 

Delfines (dolphins); Tortugas (sea turtles); Ave Marina (sea birds); Rayas (rays and skates); Tiburones (sharks).

From April 30 to September 10, 2009 data was collected on 185 exursions that varied in length, with a total of 234 days at sea. The effort involved 14 boats, 7 trasmalleros boats since Puerto López and 7 chinchorreros boats, (4 from Salango and 3 from Machalilla). Over 98% of the total bycatch consisted of chondrichthyes (sharks and rays).

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TAKE ACTION

Pacific Whale Foundation believes that shark finning is a cruel and unnecessary practice that must be brought to an end.

Twenty five senators have already signed-on to S.850, please contact your senator and ask them to sign on as a co-sponsor of The Shark Conservation Act (S.850) if they have not already done so or thank them for signing on.

IN ADDITION YOU CAN HELP BY TAKING THE FOLLOWING ACTIONS

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IN THE NEWS

• Judiciary defers shark fin bill
• Vegetarian alternative for shark fin soup
• Not safe in the water
• Legal loophole allows shark finning to continue in Queensland
• The Shark Alliance petitions for greater conservation efforts in Spain
• Preventative shark finning regulations take over
• Shark fin removal for Asian markets banned in Scottish waters
• Ban on 'barbaric' shark finning
• Filming sharks -- a shark's tale
  
• Palau pioneers "Shark Sanctuary"
  
• Overfishing threatens third of open ocean sharks
• Lush brings awareness to sharkfinning with "shark fin soap"
• Alice Waters eschews shark fin soup
• Attack victims push congress for a shark protection law
• Shark-fin soup, over fishing threaten predators with exinction
• One-third of ocean sharks face extinction
• Miami restaurant Philliple removes sharkfin from the menu
• Fishermen turn to rays as shark populations decline

 

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ADDITIONAL LINKS
IUCN World Conservation Congress Recommendations on Shark Finning
Humane Society of the United States (Includes information regarding regulations passed by other nations and international organizations like the EU and United Nations General Assembly)